Brandl Zurich installation: Baseball, Two Painters, Charles Boetschi, Leonard Bullock, Emma the cat
Here is another detail of my Zurich installation, of the "baseball wall" section. With Emma the cat, Charles Boetschi and Leonard Bullock related paintings.
Brandl Installation: Bloom, Agon, Istanbul, Eshu, Jacob
This
is the section of the installation based on my speech in Istanbul about
the other aspect of my theory in my dissertation. the background image
represents the Borusan Art Enter; one can see into it in a form which is
how they represented Superman's X-Ray
vision in the 60s. In that you see me talking about my
rewrite/misprision of Harold Bloom's theory of Agon and misprision. I
find his "struggle" theory correct, but replace his Oedipus with a
discussion of Jacob, who crosses the Jabbok River to wrestle with God
(not an angel in the Bible, that is an "official" rewrite, the original
is clearly in the Bible and is God). And more so, then, replace the
oedipal aspect with a version I find healthier, a "call and response"
version based in African-American aesthetics. And in particular with
Eshu, the spirit of the crossroads, the trickster spirit, whose image in
the painting I have already shown here. There is a painting of hands
arguing, of Jacob, and of George Herriman (the artist of Krazy Kat,
another influence of mine), as well as of Eshu.
The Chapter is here: http://www.markstaffbrandl.com/dissertation/Mark_Staff_Brandl_CHAPTER_SEVEN_Agon.pdf
Another
detail of my installation, the walk-in comic-painting-installation
exhibition. The second section of the homages wall. Store window to
the left with homages to Gene Colan and my Dad. Here billboards, comics,
painting,
pets. Thinking. The back wall, center to right. It has the cat Toby
watching me think. I am in my own thought balloon (life-sized image). To
the right is a billboard, like the very large ones along the highwas
earlier in the US. On it is a comic of two pages.
Above that are two other billboards, the full one bearing my hand with
the brush "bravura-Zorro style" again. On the comic and billboard is a
sequence (thus clearly a comic) of top left autumn (with a sign and leaves
from Chicago US and Appenzellerland in Switzerland). Then lower left
Gina the dog walks in, just her head at first. Then she walks through
the scene, second orange image she is leaving. Right page: top, She is
almost gone just her tail as an angel-wing-like echo of the Gabriel had
in the big painting elsewhere. Last panel, bottom right, she is gone.
Perhaps a loop. Definitely a memento mori (Latin 'remember that you too
will die'), for Dad, Gene Colan, Toby, Grisu, Gina, Buddie and all of us. I am in my typical clothing, but in the pose of Velázquez in Las Meninas.
A
detail of the back wall of the installation. I incorporated the back
door and window making them into a representation of a store window, as
part of that sections homage to past influences (with a large part of
'memento mori'), as my Dad Earl was also
a display man /(visual merchandising/polydesigner as they are now
called), as well as sign painter. Above the window is a painting of Gene Colan, my hero, and to the left is Clifford Meth, a great author and Gene fan, who also stands for authors I have worked with like Daniel Ammann, Peter Benno Gillis
and so on. To the right is a smaller portrait of gene, which he saw
before his death. On the door is a display tech image with two small
3-stone lithos on it. To the right of this area is the huge sequence
with my life-sized self-portrait and all. Coming soon! The panorama of the whole painting-installation is here: http://www.markstaffbrandl.com/jedlitschka%20panorama.html
Here is one of the paintings in my upcoming Zurich installation. It is of me walking/hiking out of the Black Forest, as well as my dissertation. My shadow, holding two treking poles, only one clearly visible.
It is finally the time! After some years
in the making, the room-filling painting-installation based on my PhD
dissertation is opening at Jedlitschka Gallery in Zurich. You are
cordially invited to the opening, I’d love to see you there.
Es ist endlich soweit! Nach einigen Jahren des Entstehens wird die
raumfüllende Malerei-Installation, welche auf meiner Doktorarbeit
basiert, in der Jedlitschka Gallery in Zürich präsentiert. Du bist / Sie
sind zur Vernissage herzlich eingeladen. Es würde mich freuen, dich / Sie da zu begrüssen.
Best, Mark
--------
Mark Staff Brandl My Metaphor(m), Painting-Installation 28 Feb. - 18 April, 2013
Vernissage: 28. Februar, 17.00 - 21.00 Uhr der Künstler ist anwesend (sowie am Samstag 2. März) Laudatio: 28. Februar 19.00 Uhr Dr Philip Ursprung, Professor für Kunst- und Architekturgeschichte and der ETH Zürich
Künstlergespräch: Freitag 22. März, 19.00 Uhr mit Dr Gerhard Mack, Redaktor für Kunst und Architektur bei der NZZ am Sonntag
Finissage: Donnerstag, 18. April, 17.00 - 21.00 Uhr Der Künstler ist anwesend
--------------
Mark Staff Brandl My Metaphor(m), Painting-Installation 28 Feb. - 18 April, 2013
Opening Reception: 28 Februar, 5 pm - 9 pm the artist will be present (as well as on Saturday, 2 March)
Laudatio/Opening Speech: 28 February 7 pm Dr Philip Ursprung, Professor Art and Architectur History at the ETH Zürich
Discussion with the Artist: Friday 22 March, 7 pm with Dr Gerhard Mack, Editor and Critic for Art and Architecture at the NZZ am Sonntag
Finissage /Closing Reception: Thursday, 18 April, 5 pm - 9 pm The artist will be present.
Here is another painting from my upcoming installation in Zurich. It is
of Eshu, the spirit of the crossroads in Yorùbá. Also known as Èṣù,
Legba, Eleggua and identified with St. Anthony of Padua, Saint Michael
or Santo Niño de Atocha in Santería. Èṣù is a spirit of Chaos and
Trickery, and plays frequently by leading mortals to temptation and
possible tribulation in the hopes that the experience will lead
ultimately to their maturation. He is both young and old simultaneously.
In my PhD dissertation I replaced the metaphoric figure of Oedipus with
Eshu in my rewrite (misprision) of Harold Bloom's theory of misprision.
Oil and enamel on canvas.
One of Eshu's
patakis or stories of the faith: "Eshu was walking down a road one day,
wearing a hat that was red on one side and black on the other. Sometime
after he entered a village which the road went through, the villagers
who had seen him began arguing about whether the stranger's hat was
black or red. The villagers on one side of the road had only been
capable of seeing the black side, and the villagers on the other side
had only been capable of seeing the red one. They soon came to blows
over the disagreement which caused him to turn back and rebuke them,
revealing to them how one's perspective can be as correct as another
person's even when they appear to be diametrically opposed to each
other. He then left them with a stern warning about how
closed-mindedness can cause one to be made a fool."
I always liked Jens Hoffman's image for his critique of documenta. I
have made one myself for my thoughts about it and all big international
shows. Please spread it around!
Mark Staff Brandl --- Weltuntergang? Nein, Kunst! End of the World? No, it's Art.
Mein Aufsatz in Comic/sequenzieller Kunst-Form. Für Saiten, Kultur Zeitschrift St. Gallen, Schweiz. My Essay in comic form for the cultural magazine Saiten, St.Gallen, Switzerland. Dezember 2012.
(Click image to enlarge)
English translation:
End of the World? Nah, it's only a renowned international art exhibition!
We have the wrong invitation card! Apocalypses, art show openings, --- they look so much alike... SAITEN asked me if I could talk about 3 "Art Shows that Should be Thrown Away" from the year 2012 (for their End of the World December issue). Instead, I will suggest art ideas from 3 shows for this. 1. I was a part of dOCUMENTA 13 (thanks to Critical Art Ensemble), in Kassel germany. It was fun, much better, e.g., than the anti-painting, puritanical documenta X. However, dOC 13 was still anti-visual. Nothing to SEE! We nees VISUAL ART in the visual artworld. Not only TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT. I wish for a wonderful apocalypse of the TEXT-dominance of art. 2.Peter Doig, London., makes painting for people who hate this discipline. I wish for a fantastic apocalypse of such pureposefully feeble painting. 3. Last & least. Rirkrit Tirivanija presented as art a soup dinner in the Grand Palais, Paris. I wish for a refreshing apocalypse of such silly "my-assistants-will-make-a-stupid-event-for-the-rich-art-patrons-Spectaclism" art. In conclusion: there are some apocalypses that are desirable.
"There has been a shift in the functions of the various strata in the
art work in recent decades. Something far stranger than a power
realignment alone has been happening in the art world. Earlier,
historical changes were relatively transparent transpositions of
domination. Novel now is the seeming shift of interest, of focus --- almost of aesthetic object."
Way back in 1997 I wrote these words
in an essay which was published in Switzerland in German and English as a
part of a small book on contemporary art. The book was not that
important, but I think some of my points are even more relevant to the
art scene of today. I will excerpt and rewrite parts of it here for
discussion.
In the history of art, the weight of influence and determining power has
often shifted this way or that. Predominance has transferred from
church to patron to galleries, sometimes to museums, in some places to
collectors, every once in a while to artists themselves. There have been
short-term moguls, such as John Ruskin in the late 1800s, or Clement
Greenberg in the 40s, 50s and early 60s of this century. At times these
people may be powerful enough, such as in the case of Greenberg, not
only to draw attention to specific artists and away from others, but
even to determine what is accepted as art at all.
If one envisions the art world as a layered pyramid, there is a slip of
levels and their roles. Let us delineate a possible pyramidal
illustration. The (1) artists make (2) aesthetic objects in their (3)
manner (4) exhibition curators (institutional or not) put these in (5)
exhibitions they organize. These artworks, and artists, may or may not
-but usually at some point must be - taken on by (6) gallerists in their
(7) galleries. where they are hopefully bought by (8) collectors and
put in their (9) collections. Ultimately with enough acceptance the art
works wind up being put by (10) museum directors in (11) museums. At
least that is the diagram most of us have in our minds. Independent of
the fact that this model is relatively new and rather specifically
so-called late-capitalistic and predominantly American, that it now
mutates is intriguing.
This change may have been happening slowly over quite a length of time.
With Picasso, Duchamp, Warhol and later Beuys, however important their
art, the focus tended to shift to the person, or rather to an image of
each that had more to do with the drives of publicity and fashion than
with humanism. Within our current pyramid or hierarchy of artworld
functions. it seems that the true stars are the exhibition organizers.
The Harald Szeemanns, Hans-Ulrich Obrists, Jean-Christophe Ammanns etc. I
do not intend to plaintively deplore their success. I am in fact a fan
of the work of several of the exhibition-maker superstars. Their
influence has often been refreshing. and is certainly preferable to a
narrow thralldom under someone like Greenberg. My design is to comment
on our general cultural context. The point is not only that these
exhibition curators have the spotlight, or even that they have become
more original and creative than earlier organizers, but that all tiers
of my hypothetical diagram sketched above have clearly slipped a notch
or two.
The exhibition curators are in effect now the artists. Their exhibitions
are the works of art, populated by artists who assume the position
previously held by periods or styles or movements. The creator is the
curator. the artist an aspect of the work. This continues across the
board. Museums often act like galleries. Gallerists seem uncertain as to
what it is they do --- having functions stolen from them on both sides.
By the logic of this model they would become public service exhibitions
privately funded by the gallerist. Most disconcerting is that although
visitor numbers are increasing, the number of collectors is certainly
not vastly growing. This makes one wonder what kind of effect the
experience of blockbuster shows actually has on the viewers. In the 60s
and 70s at the expanded exhibition's birth. It was thought such exposure
to good art would be enough alone to enlarge the understanding public.
This exigency raises the question of what is to be done within it,
through it. after it, or even against it. How can this situation be
enlisted into the service of art? As in any situation. its
"cash value" is important, to use William James' term. That is, what
good is it, what can be done with it? Let us consider our state
pragmatically. In the real world, no situation has been ideal for art or
the artist. Whether working for the king, church, state, merchants,
whatever. How do art aficionados react, given the new hierarchy?
One choice has been to ignore the circumstances, practicing the old
tried and true ostrich tact, denying history, saying it was ever thus
so. Mapping culture as nature is a popular approach of atavistic style
mimics. Or alternately one can cynically get on the bandwagon, a
prevalent stance in much Neo-Conceptual art today. A careerist
achievement of success as its own and only goal has even been promoted
by some theorists. This amounts simply to sophistry, to train to win
with no concern for why. True thinkers such as Socrates have criticized
this know-nothing stance since 400 B.C. Wanting to convince people,
without caring what you speak or paint about, or where you are going,
seems to be an historically repeating infirmity of weak wills. A third
reaction, and perhaps the most effective one, is to simply live in
conditions as given, but to pry a little content in whenever possible.
Not blatantly heroic perhaps, but nonetheless admirable. This has been a
tenable option at many times and in many locations. Goya, for example
can be seen in this light. The final and best reaction of all is to
strive to make a very material itself of the situation, to incorporate
it and force it to be creative by using art's ontological and metaphoric
expansiveness. This should not, however; be the only material. Creative
interpolation is called for, doorways of opportunity for new and
necessary experiences of art. If we have no positive comprehension, then
we will simply be the blind purposefully misleading the blind.
How does this concretely apply to us now? What shall be done? I have
only a very few suggestions. For one, there is a collapse of roles? Well
then, collapse your own roles, define yourself. In fact probably ones
varied plural selves, "each of those creatures called one's self," in E.
E. Cummings' words. Be "multiapplicable," depending on and following
the nature of your thought. Be an artist, curator, writer, thinker,
activator and more. When proper interpretation is valued, a more
dialectical relationship with experience results. Mikhail Bakhtin has
stressed the way that expressions not only reflect controlling interests
but more importantly can be made disruptive. thereby unshackling
alternative views. This comes about, he states, by developing a
"polyphonic"' or "dialogic" form, utilizing varied and not subordinated
points of view. A concern for context and meaning permits one as well to
allow multiple approaches to retain their quirky individuality.
In addition, we need to reinstate a positive historical memory, yet one
without a melodramatic "burden of the past." As Elaine A. King rightly
points out, "an acute case of historical amnesia" is one of the factors
killing art today." A historical consciousness operating against the
amnesiac academy, rather than promoting it as history painting did.
Plainly, the lack of any real acknowledgement of the past serves now
chiefly to allow the continuous re-sale of the same few, stale notions
as "cutting edge." If I go into a Kunsthalle one more time an see a bar
stretched across the display space, on which "found" items of clothing
are hung on hangers wall-to-wall I'll regurgitate. I've now seen that
five times, each claimed to be shocking and new and cutting edge.
Furthermore, stop yer whinin', but increase yer criticizin'. Yes, all
artworld denizens have a tendency to whimper about their difficulties.
It is hard, for almost all of us, not just artists. However, not all
critique is bellyaching. In our Prozac-framed culture, very often even
justified analysis and protest are immediately labeled as "whining."
Have the gumption to speak openly and clearly about what you perceive of
as objectionable. As my father said, if you have no enemies, then you
have never spoken clearly enough. Not everyone needs to, or can, be fond
of you and your ideas.
When I wrote these words, in their original form, I meant it as a call
to artists to become curators themselves. Instead, the opposite has
happened. The roles have shifted farther and solidified more densely. In
German a new word has been forged to legitimize the situation.
Historians, curators, organizers, critics, museum educators and so on
call themselves as a group "Kunstvermittler." They even give themselves
art awards for this "Vermittlung" activity. They frequently ask me to
translate this into English. Fortunately, it cannot be done. And
laudably, Raphael Rubinstein at Art in America assures me that
such a term has been actively combated by better writers on art in the
English-language world. For your information, that word could be framed
as "art-intermediary" or "art broker" or "art middleman" or even "art
procurer." Most of these, especially the last term, reveal more of the
truth of the situation than the "Vermittler" would like, far more than
the rather self-flattering connotations of the German neologism.
Now I am asking you: what more can we do now in this situation? To
pragmatically exist in it, but also to criticize it, cure it or use it
as material?
A 28 minute documentary video of the painting installation created in
2011 at the Peoria Contemporary Art Center by Mark Staff Brandl, Gary
Scoles and Th. Emil Homerin.
Ein schöner, kürzer Artikel an meiner Ausstellung in St. Mangen ist in
der St. Galler Tagblatt heute, von Brigitte Schmid-Gugler. A nice, short
article on my exhibition in St. Mangen is in the St. Gallen newspaper
today, by Brigitte Schmid-Gugler. Danke
Mark Staff Brandl an der dOCUMENTA 13 Im Rahmen des Critical Art Ensembles Winning Hearts and Minds präsentiert Künstler und Kunsthistoriker Mark Staff Brandl eine Performance-Vorlesung der hybriden Art. Künstler und Publikum Selbstbemächtigung. Reinschauen und zuhören!
«Ein Blitz-Crashkurs in Kunstgeschichte» – das volle Programm von der Vorgeschichte zur Postmoderne in nur einer Stunde. Mit Bildern. – Werden Sie in Lichtgeschwindigkeit zum Expert! Donnerstag, 12. Juli, 12–13 Uhr im Hauptbahnhof (KulturBahnhof) Kassel, dOCUMENTA 13
Mark Staff Brandl in dOCUMENTA 13! As a part of Critical Art Ensemble's Winning Hearts and Minds, Brandl, artist and PhD art historian , will present a hybrid performative lecture event in the Hauptbahnhof. Artist and viewer empowerment. Come see and hear!
"A Quicky Crash Course in Art History," the entire history of art from the Prehistoric through Postmodernism in one hour with pictures — become an expert with lightning speed! Thursday 12th July 12:00 -1:00 pm in the Hauptbahnhof (KulturBahnhof) in Kassel.
Brandl: Experience as the Foundation for Art: "If you've paid for it, it's yours."
One point I feel I have to make regularly to young artists
might also be of interest to others.
As several readers may know, one of my "Sharkpack" points has always been to
emphasize to individuals that you are responsible as an artist --- for your career as Paul Klein demands,
for your belief in yourself and your own criticality as Wesley Kimler emphasizes ---
and my most well-known point, you are responsible for your own thoughts, your own theoretical inspirations
your own interpretation of history. As part of that, I have a saying: "If you've paid for it,
it's yours."
I don't mean that monetarily, but experientially. In the sense that Blues
musicians so accurately speak of "paying your dues." If you have paid
them, then what derives from them is yours. Don't believe any of this "you
can't do this or that now" --- everything has already been done, in a
certain sense, yet NOTHING has been done in YOUR way yet. Make it personal and
its yours. Even worse than "that can't be done now" are the
proscriptive, veiled, commands like "you as an artist must do what is current"
or however the clichéd statements go. That is an appeal to fashion in the worst
sense. If you try to "be with it" you will always be one step behind,
anyway. Do better. Make it personal. Then it will always be current, YOUR
current, and interesting to others. We humans are always interested in real
human expressions of what it is to be alive. Take for your own life, what you
have paid your dues for. Personal experience is the foundation of all true
expression. (Note: I do not mean nostalgia in any way --- that is believing
some specific point in the past was the only worthwhile thing and dreaming
about it sentimentally. I mean a real use of what you have, what knowledge (in
all senses) you have inherited, worked through, lived through. "If you've
paid for it, it's yours." And it will in many ways be unique to you.
Podcast of and from the Venice Biennale 2011, the Accademia Museum and the Museo Correr
A Venice Biennale 2011 extravaganza. Mark Staff Brandl is in the City of St. Mark. Brandl, the Central European Bureau and VaporettoShark, traverses and discusses his way through this huge international festival with sporadic assistance from Peter Stobbe, Claudia Tolusso, Manuela Gritsch, Elisabeth Payer, Tamara Remus, Lucas Malsch, Adam Vogt, Sarah Rohner, Johanna Gschwend, Marc Bless, Manuel Ackermann, Chandra Marquart and others from the Art Academy of Liechtenstein. He covers many of the national pavilions at the Giardini park, discusses much of the Centrale and even works his way through all of the massive Arsenale. Furthermore, at the end Dr. Mark and Dr. Peter visit and discuss some thrilling old paintings at the Accademia, the wonderful Venetian Museum and go to a retrospective of Julian Schnabel in the Museo Correr, located in the Piazza San Marco. Whew. Viva la Serenissima!
This is the 54th incarnation of this show, probably the most important contemporary art exhibition. It takes place once every two years, the first Biennale being held in 1895. The Exhibition this year, titled ILLUMInations was curated by Bice Curiger; it is the largest yet, spreading over 108,000 square feet between the Giardini and the Arsenale, and features 83 artists from all over the world. The Accademia art museum is situated on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It was founded in 1750 and contains among a huge number of others, works by Bellini, Guardi, Giorgione, Pietro Longhi, Lorenzo Lotto, Mantegna, Tiepolo, Titian, Veronese, Vasari, and Mark's great favorite: Tintoretto. The Museo Correr is the civic museum of Venice and extends along the south side of the Piazza. It holds art, documents, artifacts, and maps that chart the history of Venice across the centuries. It has also has shown one person exhibitions of contemporary artist such as Anselm Kieffer, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, and Enzo Cucci.
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Mark Staff Brandl
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C Hill
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Frequent Guests
--- and more to come!
This exigency raises the question of what is to be done within it,
through it. after it, or even against it. How can this situation be
enlisted into the service of art? As in any situation. its
"cash value" is important, to use William James' term. That is, what
good is it, what can be done with it? Let us consider our state
pragmatically. In the real world, no situation has been ideal for art or
the artist. Whether working for the king, church, state, merchants,
whatever. How do art aficionados react, given the new hierarchy?
